KAPALUA, Hawaii — Geoff Ogilvy opened the PGA Tour season by saving par on the last hole — the only time he got in trouble all day — for a 6-under-par 67 that gave him a one-shot lead Thursday in the Mercedes-Benz Championship, a score that only surprised him because of the location.

“I haven’t shot very many good rounds around this course, so maybe that’s a surprising thing,” said Ogilvy, who had not broken 72 in his last two trips to the winners-only tournament. “But the fact that I’m playing OK is not surprising.”

Ogilvy won the Australian PGA Championship and tied for sixth in the Australian Open last month, and he was just as crisp with his game in taking the first-round lead over Ernie Els, Kenny Perry and Johnson Wagner.

With only moderate wind on a Plantation course that Ogilvy refers to as “extreme golf,” eight players broke 70 and 20 players in the 33-man field broke par.

FedEx Cup champion Vijay Singh, who will have knee surgery next week, was not among them. He made double bogey on the opening hole and rallied for a 73. Defending champion Daniel Chopra was headed for a round in the 80s until birdies on the last two holes for a 79.

Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway hit the ceremonial tee shot to begin the season, a 350-yard drive that speaks to the elevation, wind and the grain in the grass that makes the Plantation course unlike any other that will played all year.

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